Perhaps that incident convinced some white collared higher-ups that the company needed to be a bit more proactive and this is the odd fruit born of that episode. To put an end to the speculation and satisfy our curiosities we called AMP and asked whether they could confirm or deny this rumor. They could do neither. And so, we leave it to you to weigh in with your considered opinions in the comments section below.

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Anonymous

4 Years Ago

IF this is true, and it does NOT seem likely...

I can only assume Daimler is working parallel paths to get where they need to go faster, and covering their bets by using multiple sources. Perhaps Tesla's conversion of the RAV4 is making them nervous. Perhaps Daimler doesn't have time to develop an EV SUV from scratch but realize this has the best potential to make a profit. I would love to hear Daimler's explanation.

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

Tesla has no particular knowlwedge that is of any utility to anyone. It essentially has no engineering or mass manufacturing staff. But lots of very qualified PR types.

The Tesla chasis were by Lotus; the commercial off the shelf, electric Li-Ion cells were put together in a bunches of thousands, nothing that anyone else chose to follow. GM has buil tmore Volts for developmnet and testing than Tesla has built in total, with its rich customers serving as the developmental guinea pigs. MB bought into Tesla, opened the paper bag, and discovered it was full of bovine manure, and not much else.

Daimler promptly dumped its "investment" within a few weeks, to some dumb Arab Oil Zillionaire who didn't know any better.